My Brother's Keeper
by Fettkat
Summary: A Ben-Jacen story. My take on the untold origins of their mentor-apprentice relationship. Please read and review!


_**A/N: This is a story I had actually written quite a while back but just discovered that it had never been posted! Silly me! Anyhoo, a Ben-Jacen tale. Enjoy!**_

_**-FK.**_

Jacen Solo had no sooner settled into a deep meditation than the door alarm buzzing harshly jolted him out of it. His brow creased in puzzlement as he failed to sense whoever had rung. Why would a droid be coming to the Solos' apartment in the middle of the afternoon?

He palmed open the door to discover it wasn't a droid, but a little boy.

A little boy who could already mask his presence in the Force.

Despite himself, Jacen Solo was intrigued.

* * *

Ben Skywalker gawped at him, looking quite unprepared for this reception. Jacen didn't doubt it. After the Yuuzhan Vong war and his continued absence over the last five years, his little cousin hadn't quite had the chance to know him. He must have been expecting one of his more familiar Solo family members.

"Hello, Ben," Jacen greeted him with a friendly enough smile.

"To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

Ben blinked twice to recover his composure.

"What? Oh, I- uh... Dad sent me. He needs Uncle Han's toolbox."

Jacen grinned.

"Uncle Luke's still tinkering with his old X-Wing? By now I wonder if it has any of its original Incom parts left!"

Ben regarded him all too quizzically out of the corner of his eyes.

"Uhhh... my dad flies a StealthX now..."

Jacen fought a moment to recover.

"Oh... uh-yeah, of course. That's what I meant."

He'd missed out on a lot on his five years away, looked like he had some catching up to do.

"Come on in. I'll see if I can't find my dad's trusty toolkit."

Ben hesitated for a second before following him inside and Jacen noted the boy's diffidence. He didn't really know much about his cousin either, the last time he'd even seen him, he had been a two-year old toddler. Ben waited shyly as Jacen rummaged around Han's office, hunting in vain for the box of tools his father always kept handy for repairs on the _Falcon_. But all the time, he observed the young boy. Something gave him the impression Ben wasn't quite this quiet around people he knew well. But to him, Jacen must seem almost a stranger. He drew on his old skills of interacting with animals and studied him with care. Ben stayed well away from Jacen, idly wandering around the back among dusty shelves full of old files, data discs and other assorted knickknacks. Han Solo wasn't one to keep his office as tidy as he kept his cockpit! But the boy lacked the energy one normally expected from almost-eight year old boys. Despite him having no presence in the Force, Jacen was sure Ben had been pressed into doing something that was very possibly not his most favourite job in the world.

Having reached a dead end in his hunt around the Solo apartment, Jacen walked back towards him, dusting his hands off on his robes.

"Sorry, buddy. I guess my dad's using his tools on the _Falcon_. I just looked everywhere but they don't seem to be anywhere around here."

Ben nodded, looking down and biting his lip slightly.

"Ok," he mumbled.

"Guess I'll head back to the hangars then."

On the spur of the moment Jacen decided to join him.

"Hey," he offered, "Maybe I can offer you a ride? I'll take out the speeder and we can head to the hangars together."

He wanted to get to know this new member of his family better. Ben looked up at him, an uncertain spark flickering in his eyes, and nodded.

"Ok," he accepted. Perhaps young Ben was just as curious about Jacen as he was about him.

* * *

Once they reached the hangars, Ben jumped out of the speeder and wove his way unerringly through the ranks of starfighters towards the Skywalkers' personal hangar bay. Jacen parked the speeder and followed him. Young Ben didn't glance up adoringly at the state-of-the-art machinery all around him or trail his hand lovingly over the various gleaming metal surfaces. Jacen found this absence of interest in all things mechanical and aeronautic curious in a scion of the Skywalker family. He remembered well the way his father and sister would regard starships and equipment, the way they in fact still did. It told him a lot.

As expected, his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker was standing on a step ladder beside his craft, stripped down to his vest and seemed intensely concentrated on some wiring sticking out from a panel on the side. He looked up as his son and nephew approached.

Ben didn't run to him, but stopped and waited obediently until his father was done.

"Boys," he acknowledged with a welcoming smile. Jacen tried in vain not to roll his eyes knowing just how long ago he had outgrown that title!

"Jacen couldn't find Uncle Han's tools, Dad. He says they're probably on the _Falcon_."

Luke nodded as he climbed down.

"That's ok, son. We can get them from him later."

"Can we go home now?"

There was a note of hope in the young boy's voice.

Standing beside them, noting their interchange, it suddenly struck Jacen how little Ben was like his father. To look at him, it was instantly apparent that he had taken almost entirely after his mother. Except for his eyes. He had the true Skywalker blues.

And there was a lot under the surface. Jacen couldn't be sure without the Force, but he had a feeling that there was more to Ben Skywalker than met the eye. Another way in which he took after Mara. Someday, Jacen thought to himself, he might grow up to become just as dangerous as her.

"I still have a few things to finish up here, Ben. And besides, I don't think your mother is home yet. Tell you what, why don't you see if your uncle's on the _Falcon_ and see if he's done with his servodriver and can lend it to me for a bit, huh?"

That seemed to perk the kid up. He nodded at his father, the first traces of enthusiasm Jacen had seen in him all day showing in his eyes, and scampered off at a run.

* * *

Luke looked at his retreating figure fondly and then turned to Jacen.

"He gets away with much more with Han than with me," he stated by way of explanation.

Jacen regarded his uncle closely.

"I couldn't feel him in the Force, Uncle Luke," he remarked softly but pointedly.

Luke's hands stilled in the process of wiping themselves on a piece of rag. He emitted a soft sigh.

"He's closed himself off to it remarkably early, I'm afraid, Jacen," he replied gravely.

"He was so strong in the Force that he felt too much of the pain and tumult of the war and, well... at that young age, I'm not surprised it scarred him. Neither Mara nor I have been able to persuade him out of this fear."

Jacen's gaze turned pensive.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?"

Luke raised his eyebrows, but Jacen didn't miss the tired cast of his eyes.

"Worried?" he sounded faintly amused.

"Oh I think it's too early to be getting worried about him!"

"Have you tried enrolling him with the Padawans at the Temple?"

Luke uttered a mirthless laugh.

"Have I?! He throws a fit every time!"

This time his sigh was more heartfelt.

"Mara's pretty much banned me from trying to bring up the topic with him anymore. Says he's suffered trauma enough and we should just let him develop at his own pace."

Jacen mulled for a few minutes before puffing his cheeks and letting out a breath.

"Well. Looks like I've got a lot of catching up to do! I mean, the last time I even saw Ben, he was just a baby!"

He took a step towards his uncle.

"But if you wouldn't mind me giving you a piece of advice, Uncle Luke, perhaps apprenticing him to a Master might give him more personalised attention. That might be what he needs."

Luke ran a hand through his hair.

"He learns from Mara and me, we try and keep that up, but... what with the pressure of the Council's work, there's a lot of time we're hard pressed for any to devote to him."

Jacen decided to change the subject and spare his uncle further discomfort on what was obviously a very thorny topic in the Skywalker household.

"Teaching the kid some of your homegrown piloting tips, I see!" he said, looking up at his uncle's starfighter instead and running a hand over the StealthX's smooth matte-finished hull.

"Has he learned how to bullseye them womp rats yet?!"

Despite himself Luke could not hide his wince at Jacen's words. The younger man did not fail to notice and his brow creased in concern.

"Uncle Luke? What's the matter?"

Luke waved it away.

"Oh nothing. Ben's not exactly what you might call a born pilot. Although of course, it's still early days yet!"

Jacen couldn't keep his eyebrows from shooting up in surprise.

"_Your_ son, not a born pilot?! Whew! That makes him a unique Skywalker then! Remember Jaina when she was his age? I think she lived more in the hangars or on the _Falcon_ than she ever did at home!"

Luke gave him a wry smile.

"Oh the _Falcon's_ his favourite all right! I think it's the only spaceship he's even remotely attached to! And much though I am loath to admit, Han does have his own magic touch when it comes to children!"

Jacen couldn't be quite sure, but he thought he detected a faint sense of resentment in his uncle's tone at the last. Which made him pause for a heartbeat before he made his offer.

"You know... maybe it would do Ben some good to be away from people he's become too familiar with. Like his parents. If you wouldn't mind, Uncle Luke, what would you say to me taking him under my wing for a bit?"

His uncle regarded him with no small amount of surprise. But then realisation began to dawn in his eyes as a slow smile spread over his face.

"Jacen! Would you really?! That might just work!"

Jacen grinned in the classical Solo lop-sided fashion.

"Hey, I figure it would give me time to do some necessary bonding with this brand new cousin of mine!"

Luke clapped him on the back, too grateful to speak.

* * *

Just then, a little red-haired whirlwind, charged full of energy, came dashing up.

"Here you go, Dad!" he panted, breathless, slapping a large servodriver into his father's hand.

"Won it from Uncle Han, fair and square!"

Both of the older men looked taken aback for a moment but chose, wisely, not to pursue that line of conversation any further.

Jacen kneeled down in front of his cousin. Ben regarded him a trifle warily.

"Hey, Ben. You know your dad and I were just talking and he says he's going to take a while to wrap up his work here. So I thought since you and me have got some catching up to do, how about we go out for a ronto-burger and blue milkshakes? Whaddya say?"

Ben looked up at his father, his blue eyes round with entreaty. Luke just smiled and shooed them off.

"Go ahead, son. Jacen will drop you back home. Go and do some brotherly bonding!"

Ben smiled up shyly at Jacen and slipped his hand into his older cousin's proffered one as they headed towards where Jacen had left his speeder parked.

"So... your dad tells me you're not the flyboy _he_ was back when he was a kid. What do you do for fun around here then?"

Ben's eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Promise you won't tell?"

Jacen flashed him a pained glance.

"Ben, let me give you a hint as to how many secrets I had to hide from my parents when I was your age! They ate a lot, crapped a lot, and turned my bedroom into a karking _zoo!_"

Ben's eyes opened wide in new found admiration and he turned in his seat as Jacen started up the speeder.

"Uncle Han was losing to Jaina in _dejarik_ but then I totally swiped one of her pieces when she wasn't looking and Uncle Han took all her pieces with his Molator so she lost and now she has to do chores at home for a week and help my dad fix his ship so I don't have to!"

Jacen couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head, wondering if the seven year old was even remotely aware of the perils of cheating Jaina Solo out of a game and at the same time admiring his daring manipulation!

The boy had definite potential, Jacen found himself thinking as he drove, continuing to listen to the boy's endless chatter. He felt curious to see whether he might play a role in influencing him to achieve it.

If this first impression was anything to go by, Ben's career promised to be one he might want to follow with great interest.

**THE END**


End file.
